


Alice Starling And the Beast of Ilvermorny

by DrZevil



Series: Alice Starling Adventures [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 08:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16014554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrZevil/pseuds/DrZevil
Summary: Alice Starling thought she was normal, like the rest of her family, but when the Man in the Hat shows up she's in for a surprise: she's a witch and has been accepted into Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just like the Boy who lived, Alice will have her own trials to deal with at school.





	1. Prologue

Salutations and bienvenue! To those in this fandom, welcome to my insanity! To those that are following me from my other stories… this story is going to be the opposite of my usual work.  
Disclaimer: Ilvermorny, M.A.C.U.S.A., the whole of the wizarding world, and every character in it belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.  
\-----------------------

Prologue

Atop the highest peak of mount Greylock, hidden behind enchanted mists, stood an impossible sight: a medieval granite castle. But this isn’t your average impossible castle, no this impossible castle is an impossible school… what? You’ve heard of another impossible hidden school? Oh, you must mean that one in Scotland! That’s not the one I’m talking about, no I’m talking about the one in America! 

That impossible school is Ilvermorny; Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in (point of) fact. For many years this school has stood against the test of time, dark practitioners, bigotry, and has trained the next generation of American witches and wizards for three hundred and ninety-seven years.

It was the next generation that was on the mind of Professor Agilbert Fontaine, Headmaster of Ilvermorny, as he sat at his desk looking over the letters that were about to go out to a new batch of first years. Fontaine was a thin dark-skinned man, coarse white hair on his head, a trim white beard, bright green eyes, and a multitude of wrinkles that, in conjunction with his white hair, bellied his age. 

Most of the letters were already in their envelopes and to be owled out, except for the stack of letters that were right in front of him, the No-Maj-born (magical children whose parents have no magic) letters, which required a more personal touch then the other letters. “William.” He called out in a, despite his age of ninety-seven, strong New Orleans accented voice. At his words an elderly humanoid figure appeared out of thin air with a small pop. He had grey skin, was small in stature, four feet tall, with an elongated nose, ears, and fingers.

“Whadaya want Fontaine?” said the old creature “You know me, and the others are busy getting the castle ready for the brats.” Fontaine only smiled at the old Pukwudgie, not taking offence in the slightest. “I know William, and I’m very grateful fo yo work, but I need to speak with Hue and Sylas. Would you please get them fo me, it’s about the remainin’ No-Maj-Born letters? I believe they should be on campus.” 

The old Pukwudgie glared up at the headmaster for a few moments before grumbling under his breath and popping away. The headmaster looked back down at the small stack of No-Maj-born letters, five out of nine left and sighed thinking to himself ‘Dere always seems to be fewer and fewer No-Maj-borns every year. I hope it’s just nature deciding this and not some outside force at work.’ 

Images of the past flashed through the headmaster’s mind: a banner with a set of hands breaking a wand, a glowing green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth in the sky, a mass of black smoke like substance lashing out, and a line through a circle enclosed in a triangle etched into a brick wall. He shuddered at the significance of each one. He shook his head violently, ‘No! Voldemort and Grindlevald are dead and buried, their fallowers are either dead or in prison. The Scouiers have been dormant for years, and as fo an Obscurial-’ 

He would have continued along this train of thought, but with a small pop, William appeared with a scruffy looking middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, dressed in white healers’ robes, No-Maj running shoes, and was leaning heavily on an old and gnarled cane with the image of Pukwudgie house carved in the center of it. “Thanks for the ride stumpy.” Said the man as he limped to one of the chairs in front of the headmaster’s desk. 

Fontaine frowned at the man before looking to the grumbling Pukwudgie with a kind smile on his face. “Tank you, William.” The Pukwudgie grumbled something that sounded like ‘stupid bum legged human’ and popped away. The headmaster looked back to the man in front of him “You should really be nicer to dem Hue, dey are the namesake of yo house after all.” Said the headmaster to Hue Homes, school doctor, deputy head master, and head of house Pukwudgie. 

“Doesn’t matter if I’m nice to the little snots,” he said in his usual gruff and deadpan manner, “They’re going to treat me the same way they treat everyone else: badly.” 

Fontaine rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Yes, but if you treated dem better they might stop hiding yo cane whenever you take yo eyes off it for more than five seconds.” 

Healer Homes seemed to think that over for a bit before shaking his head and frowning. “Nah! Besides, jokes on them, I’m getting much better at wandlessly summoning it back to me.” He looked down at the letters on the head masters desk, “That the last of the letters? So, we waiting on the limey, the cowboy, or the runt of the litter?”

Before he can answer, Fontaine was interrupted by a small pop. William appeared yet again, this time with a tall man with brown hair, a handle bar mustache with a long connecting goatee, dressed in a purple vest with brass buttons and green trim, a white long sleeve button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black pants, boots, and tie, and a black fedora with a purple band around it. He also wore a black leather apron and had a vile of something green in his hand, poised to be poured into something. He looked slightly startled to be in a completely different place then he was earlier. “The runt it is then.” Said Homes with a role of his eyes.

“Sylas,” said Fontaine in a friendly tone, “good to see you my young friend, I hope we didn’t take you away from somethin’ important?” Sylas M. Zax, Transfiguration teacher and head of Horned Serpent house was about to answer but was stopped by the sound of a low boom that seemed to come from somewhere in the castle, more likely than not, Professor Zax’s office and lab. “…No head master, you didn’t.” He said in a slightly pained voice, corking the vile, putting it away in his vest pocket, and pulling out his wand from the same pocket. 

“Do we want to know what that was, newbie?” asked Homes, as Sylas waved his wand over his apron, transfiguring it into black suit jacket robes with deep red trim and a bright red interior.

“Nothing, well, nothing anymore.” He answered as he took the other chair in front of the headmaster’s desk. “I was working on a levitation potion to fuel Rosemarie in combination with the levitation charm I already placed on her chassis, but wouldn’t interfere with the rune pattern or the invisibility booster or the extension charms I have on the-” 

“Is there anything else you need of me, oh wise and venerable headmaster?” William asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice at the second half of his question.

“No, tank you William, that will be all.” Said Fontaine, a sympathetic and grateful smile on his face.

“Good.” Said William, “Cause apparently I got an explosion to clean up in the Horned Serpent wing.” He gave Zax the stink eye, “Again.” This caused the younger man to wince as he slipped his wand into his sleeve. With a final glare at the three wizards, the old Pukwudgie disappeared with a pop. 

Homes grimaced at the spot where the Pukwudgie had just been, “The old man’s been crotchety lately.” Turning back to Fontane and Zax, and seeing their skeptical expressions, he added “More than usual I mean.” A rarely seen concern came flashed on his face as he said, “You think it’s because of all the quakes we’ve been having lately?” The head master brows furrowed in thought. 

“Could be, the earth quakes are a concern and a mystery. There has never been an earth quake here at mount Greylock, not before or after the settlers came to the new world and certainly not before or after Isolt Sayre, James Steward, and the Boot Boys founded Ilvermorny.” Said Fontaine, a crease in his brow.

“So why are there earth quakes now?” asked Zax, his curiosity peaked. “Has something changed about the land since the founders built the school? Could it be a curse set on the mountain before the founding that was on a kind of timer or degraded to catastrophic effect?” 

The head master realizes that the discussion has come back to his earlier thought: “I hope it’s just nature deciding this and not some outside force at work.” He said in a quiet voice.

Something flashed in Zax’s eyes, but it went unnoticed by his elder professors as the head master shook his head. “As much as dat is a concern, we should get to the task at hand.” Fontaine picked up the stack of five letters and placed them horizontally on his desk. “Dese are the last of the No-Maj-born letters, I have already given the other letters to the heads of Thunderbird and Wampus, I just need the two of you to decide who gets three letters and who gets two.” Homes turned to Zax, fist on his open palm. 

Zax looked slightly affronted, “Seriously? You’re really going to try and get out of what amounts to charity work?” Homes, face deadpan, patted his open palm with his fist three times in answer. “Fine, lazy bones.” Zax said in exasperation as he got his hands ready. They patted their hands three times in sync, then their hands formed the necessary symbols: Homes making a three-pronged claw, Zax with his hand open with the fingers splayed. 

“Damn.” said Homes, snatching his hand away as if it was burned. 

Zax smiled in triumph, “Phoenix tears beats basilisk venom. I win.” Zax looked at the five letters on the headmaster’s desk. He closed his eyes and hovered his hand over the letters, but before he can pick even one, Homes quickly took three of the letters off the headmaster’s desk. 

“A Mr. Juan Zamora in the third bedroom at 564 Sanchez Lane Mexico City Mexico, Mr. Casey Johnson in the second-floor bedroom at 208 Jackson Boulevard Chandler Arizona, and a Ms. Sonia Wong in the smallest room at apt 48 Regan Avenue Boston Massachusetts” He read to the headmaster, who was giving him a disapproving frown at his antics. 

Eyes now opened, Zax sighed in exasperation before picking up the last two of the letters. “A Mr. Ricardo Gomez in the third room at apt 10 Rio Grande Boulevard San Antonio Texas, and a Ms. Alice Starling in the fourth room on the left side at 13 Elm Street Durant Oklahoma.”

“Good.” said the head master as he took out and waved his wand at the letters, causing them to fly out of the professor’s hands and into five unsealed envelopes. The head master then pointed his wand at a lit red wax candle, gathering melted wax into five small balls, then dropping them onto the closed envelope, and pressed each with his signet ring, leaving the schools seal. 

That finished, Fontaine retuned the letters to Zax and Homes. “See that they are delivered to the children, educate the families of our existence and the Statute of Secrecy, and set up an appointment to take them to get their supplies. I know dat I can count on you two to get the job done.”

Alice Starling  
And the Beast of Ilvermorny  
____________  
By DrZevil  
AN: And there it is, short but hopefully you all liked what you read, but rest assured there will be more. If some of you have read my other stories, The Spider-Overlord and Breaking Point, then you know this is a major deviation from my usual work. If you’ve read Star Trek: Endeavor then it’s not that different, morally if not genre-y.

When J.K. Roweling came out with her writings about Ilvermorny, I was inspired and felt that I need to write something. Plus, contrary to what I have written in my other stories, I need a little light every now and then. That said, this series (yes series, I’m going to try a little harder to get a story finished in less then a century) will have its dark moments as our intrepid heroine and her own band of friends grow into adulthood.


	2. Chapter 1 Tap Dancing Frogs and The Man in The Hat

Disclaimer: Ilvermorny, M.A.C.U.S.A., the whole of the wizarding world, and every character in it belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. If I did own it, Harry Potter would have been sorted into Slytherin and would have ended up with Hermione.  
__________

Alice Starling was in a library, that’s how she knew it was a dream. She loved to read, even when she was in the arms of Morpheus, except in her dreams she can open a book and be a part of that world. She could solve mysteries with Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, sail the seven seas with Long John Silver, sword fight with the three musketeers, or learn magic from Merlin himself. Those, the stories and dreams about magic, were her favorite. 

In those dreams she could make anything she wanted to appear or come alive, control the weather, turn herself into an animal, or even fly. And they weren’t always adventure stories, sometimes she was in a new and odd place, where she would do magic or relive fond memories. Sure, she loved fighting dragons with King Arthur to save her Prince charming or solve a mystery with Hercule Poirot, but sometimes she just wants to relive the time she made Christmas cookies with her grandma Daisy.

She thought that would be a nice kind of dream for tonight and was reaching for one such book when she felt the ground began to shake. ‘That’s weird.’ Thought Alice, ‘My dreams usually wait for me to actually touch one of the books before starting my dream.’ She looked around her to see if the dream was starting, but all she saw was the library in her mind. Suddenly there was a flash of green and a what sounded like a mad woman cackling, followed by a whole host of odd noises.

There was a rustling somewhere in the stacks followed by a hissing noise like a snake. Then she heard what sounded like a growl from something like a lion. The next moment she heard the pitter patter of feet followed by angry whispers in a language she couldn’t understand. Suddenly there was a large gust of wind, a crack of thunder and what sounded like the call of a very big bird, and it started raining in her library.

Buckets of rain was falling on her, making it hard for her to see, she tried to shield her eyes, so she could see the shelf in front of her, thinking if she got to one of her books she could take herself somewhere, anywhere, that wasn’t experiencing a hurricane. There was another crack of thunder and she saw the book case, the very tall book case, begin to tilt and fall towards her. As the book case came crashing down, Alice raised her arms in a feeble attempt to protect herself and then there was this huge thing that slithered around her, seeming to try and protect her. She opened her mouth to scream and–

“HEY! Alice! Rise and shine pipsqueak!” yelled her older brother, Ben, from the other side of her bedroom door, waking her just in time to avoid her dreamy demise. “What the heck was that all about?” she whispered to herself. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? She remembered from a book on dreams she had read what rain or water might mean and quickly lifted her covers to check, feeling very relieved to not find anything wet in the real world.

Two thumps on the other side of her door snapped her out of her relief. “Come on Alice, moms not going to let me have my breakfast until I’ve got you up.” Ah, there it is, the real reason her brother is waking her up, her mothers’ special brand of coercion. Her mother knew how to manipulate all her children to do what she wanted, as an alternative to yelling at them, and in her brothers’ case it was his bottomless pit of a stomach.

“I’m up and I’ll be down in a minute.” She quickly got out of bed and went to dresser to get her the clothes she was going to wear today. She thought of taking a shower, but after her dream, she decided to skip that part of her daily ablutions. She quickly got her clothes, a forest green t-shirt that read ‘Books are better than boys’ and brown cargo shorts, and made her way into the upstairs bathroom, surprised that one of her brothers or sisters were not hogging the bathroom. 

The Starlings were a family of eight; two parents, three boys, and three girls, so the bathroom empty was a rare treat, even if she was going to skip her usual shower. As she finished brushing her teeth, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had long blonde hair, like most of her family, reaching down to the middle of her back and blue eyes with a green ring around her iris. ‘I’ve never had a dream like that in my library before.’ she thought to herself. ‘And what was with those weird sounds?’

Shaking her head to snap herself out of her thoughts, she rinsed her mouth out and got dressed for her day. As she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped at the low shelf there and smiled at the picture on it. The picture was of an eight-year-old girl wearing a blue shirt and overalls, she had blonde hair and green eyes. The girl was in a small garden and was smiling at the person taking the picture.

“Morning Laura.” Said Alice to the picture of her older sister, Laura, who died in a car crash when she was eight. Her parents don’t like to talk about it, but what they would tell her was that a drunk driver had lost control of his car and hit her. They would have hit her other big sister, Anna who was six at the time, but Laura pushed her out of the way. 

Alice had never met her sister, her mother was pregnant with her at the time and her other big brother, Malcom, was four so he doesn’t remember her, but Anna and Ben say that she was sweet and loved all of them, even her who hadn’t been born yet.

She gave the picture a final look and then went down to breakfast. Seated around the oval table in the dining room was her family, sans her mom, Lois, who was in the kitchen making breakfast. Her dad, Richard, was at the head of the table reading his newspaper and drinking his morning coffee. 

Richard Starling was seven feet tall, had short blonde hair that was slowly turning silver, a close-cropped beard, green eyes with specks of brown in them, and solidly built. He was the store manager for the local Home depot and would normally be dressed in a suit and tie, but today was his day off so he was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.

On his left side was her fourteen-year-old brother Ben, short for Benjamin, focusing on eating his breakfast like he hadn’t eaten in days. Ben was tall for his age, about six feet and one inch, had some muscle tone from being on the football team, blue eyes, and had short blond hair. He was dressed in a blue short sleeved under armor shirt and shorts, and fluorescent yellow running shoes. 

Next to him was her thirteen-year-old brother Malcom who was reading a comic book, X-men, while eating his breakfast at a more sedate pace. Malcom was a bit scrawny for his age, a foot shorter than his older brother, mop top styled blonde hair, and blue-green eyes. He was dressed in a Green Lantern t-shirt, tan cargo pants, blue converse, and his ever-present wire rimmed glasses.

On her father’s right was her eighteen-year-old sister Anna, who was busily taping out a text on her phone and barely touching her food. Anna had shoulder length blonde hair, baby blue nail polish, was six feet tall, had an athletic figure from running with the track team, and had green eyes. She was dressed in a silver girls t-shirt, kaki capri pants, and grey flats.

Next to her was their little brother Milhouse, nicked named Milly, and his twin sister Jillian, nick named Jilly, both talking about the adventure they were going to go on in the back yard today in between bites of their fruit loops. 

The twins were average sized, blonde hair, Milly’s being cut short while Jilly’s reaching to her shoulders and had blue eyes with a ring of brown. Milly was dressed in a blue shirt with the Autobots logo on it, green camo shorts, and blue light up shoes while Jill was dressed in a pink shirt with a unicorn on it, denim shorts, and red light up shoes.

Hearing his daughter walk in, Mr. Starling looked up and smiled at her. “Good morning Alice! Your mothers getting a plate ready for you in the kitchen.” He said to her before going back to his paper. She made her way to the kitchen, kissing her father on the cheek before going to her seat, but she stopped by Bens seat and kissed him the cheek as well.

“What was that for?” He asked through a mouth full of bacon and eggs. It wasn’t that his sister never showed him affection, but it was rare enough to be weird. It wasn’t that they didn’t show affection to one another as a family, they were close and loved each other very much, but like with most families, terms of endearment varied.

“From saving me from being crushed by a falling book case that the storm in the library blew over.” She said as she sat down at the free seat by Malcom. Her brothers, sisters, and father looked at her in confusion, but then their mother walked in with Alice’s plate. Lois Starling was a foot shorter than her husband, long blonde hair in a single braid, blue eyes, laugh lines around her mouth, and had a slim build. She was dressed in a simple red blouse and jeans. Mrs. Starling, or rather Dr. Starling was a child psychiatrist and had also chosen to take the day off to spend with her family.

“King Author or the Hardy Boys?” She asked as she sat down Alice’s plate in front of her then taking her seat with her own plate of food, drawing looks of understanding around the table. They all knew about Alice’s library, they all (with the exception her parents and Malcom) thought it was weird, but they knew about it and accepted it for what it was: Alice’s overactive imagination.

“Actually, it was weird,” she said as she poured herself some juice from the jug on the table, “My dreams always start after I get one of my books off the shelf, but my dream started before I even touched one of my books.” She shivered at the memory of the dream, “The ground started to shake, then there were these weird noises, and it started to rain, and the book case was about to fall on me…” there was something else about the dream, but the memory was gone. “but then Ben woke me up than everything was okay.”

Malcom looked up from the eternal struggle between the X-Men and the worst of humanity and turned to his sister with a slight frown. “Did you say rain? Doesn’t that usually mean that you’ve-”

“Nope!” she said quickly not wanting her brother to say what that meant.

She apparently didn’t stop him soon enough, because the twins were now looking at them curiously, “What does it mean?” asked Milly, confusion scrunching up his face cutely.

“Yeah tell us Malcy!” said Jilly, causing her and her twin to chant “tell us!” over and over again, causing her other siblings and her father to laugh and her mother to urge the twins to stop that, but was also giggling at the predicament her second oldest daughter was in.

Before her brother could spill the beans, he was interrupted by the door bell ringing. Seeing this as her chance to get out of answering a very embarrassing subject, Alice quickly got up from her seat and headed for the door. “I’ll get it!” She said as she practically ran to the door, ignoring her mother’s protest that she just sat down to eat. She got to the door and opened it, to see a very strange looking man. 

He was a tall man with brown hair, a handle bar mustache with a long connecting goatee, dressed in a black robe like suit jacket with deep red trim and a bright red interior that ended just above his ankles, a purple vest with brass buttons and green trim, a white long sleeve button up shirt, black pants, a navy and cranberry red striped tie, green alligator hide shoes with metal toe caps, and a black fedora with a purple band around it.

“Hello there!” he said as he looked down at her with a warm smile on his face. “I’m here to meet a miss…” He stopped abruptly, eyes squinting in thought before widening, and he started to stick his hands into his pockets looking for something. “Sorry, one moment. No. Not that one. Nope. No, no, and no. Nuh-uh. Oh, I hope I didn’t leave something as important as that in my office... again. Ah ha!” He said victoriously as he pulled out a letter from inside his robes right sleeve. 

“I am here to see a Ms. Alice Starling. Is she home? Actually,” He squatted down to look at her more closely, eyes squinty and taking in every detail about her, right hand to his chin in a thoughtful gesture while his left hand was on his knee. “You look to be the right age, so you could be her, but then there could be another eleven-year-old living here or you’re her twin sister, but that would be unlikely because we would have been told about another No-Maj-born.” 

He suddenly got a glimmer in his eyes and a big smile on his face, “Unless only one of you was born with it! That would be fascinating! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that! I might be the one to discover such a phenomenon!” He frowned again and quickly shook his head. “Wait, no. I’m getting off track here. Is Alice Starling here? Yes or no please.” He finished with a smile on his face again.

Taken completely off guard by all those words being hurled at her, a perplexed Alice answered the very strange man in the hat. “I’m Alice Starling. Who are you?” The man in the hat smiled at her answer, slapping his knee as he practically bounced back up to his standing position.

“Most excellent, Ms. Starling!” He said smile growing wider as he looked down at her. “But before I can introduce myself I need to speak to your parents.” He suddenly got a worried look on his face. “They are home, right? It would be a tad embarrassing if I came all this way and they weren’t here.” Before she can go and get one of her parents, her mother walks in from the dining room.

“Alice who is it at the door? Oh!” she says that last part in surprise as she sees the man in the hat at the door. “Hello there, how can I help?” she asks, her tone a little uneasy at seeing the man’s strange appearance.

“How do you do! You must be Mrs. Starling!” said the man. “I’m so glad you’re actually home! My name is Professor Sylas M. Zax!” He holds out his hand to shake Mrs. Starling’s hand, which she does, not bothering to correct him that she was actually ‘Dr. Starling’, because she didn’t like to put on airs.

“Nice to meet you Professor, but may I ask why you’re on at my door step?” She asked, still slightly unnerved by the man. Alice knew that her mother wasn’t a judgmental or superficial person, nor was she, but she couldn’t help but feel if they looked up the word strange in the dictionary, they would see his picture.

“You may indeed, ma’am.” He stood up straight and, though he still wore a smile, his voice became far more official, “I am here to deliver this letter,” He held up said letter, “to your daughter Alice, to provide evidence that the contents of this letter are true, and to answer any questions you might have. May I come in?”

Alice’s mother looked at the man suspiciously for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of letting this odd man in, Alice was guessing. Seeming to reach the conclusion that the man was either not dangerous, or if he was there were at least four people in the house that could take him down, three of whom were or still are fit athletes. “I’m sorry, please come in Professor Zax. Alice can you go get your father and meet us in the living room. Can I offer you a drink? I just made a fresh pot of coffee.”

Saying that a cup of coffee would be ‘absolutely magnificent’ Alice did as she was asked and got her father. Once entering the room, Alice could tell that her father was also a little weirded out a bit at the man who stood from the armchair facing the family couch, but he mentally shook it off as he physically shook the mans offered hand. “Nice to meet you Professor Zax. Mind if I ask what you’re a professor of?” he asked as he sat down on the opposite side of the couch that his wife was on with his daughter in the middle.

Zax smiled at the question. “I will gladly tell you but first,” He said, then held out the letter to Alice, “I think you should read this.” Alice hesitantly took the letter from the professor, not sure what was so important about it. She looked it over, seeing that it was addressed to her, right down to which room in the house was hers. ‘Well, that’s a little disturbing.’ She thought as she turned the letter over to look at the seal. It had the image of a Gordian knot stamped into cranberry red wax. She broke the seal and pulled out the papers inside, and read, with her parents reading over her shoulders, the top letter.

Dear Miss Alice Starling,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed with this letter is a list of all necessary supplies for the upcoming year.

Term begins September first.

With kind regards and hope to see you on first day of term,  
Professor Agilbert Fontaine  
Headmaster of Illvermorny

All three of the Starlings looked up at the man sitting across from them like he was crazy. Alice was willing to believe that she could go to places she had never been before with characters from a story book in her dreams, but for someone to hand her a letter saying that she was accepted into a school for witches and therefore implying that magic is real is a bit much for her. Her father seemed to be of the same mind, because he was raising to his feet with an angry expression on his face. “I think it’s time for you to go and not come near my daughter, or any of my kids, again.”

Zax was still smiling as he pulled out a slender stick out of his left sleeve. He pointed it at the decorative wooden bowl on the coffee table and before their eyes it turned into a frog. With a wave the wand, the frog began to dance and sing like that in one those loony toons cartoon. There was a crash and Alice tore her eyes away from the frog to see her siblings in a heap on the floor at the entrance to the living room. They were obviously listening in on the conversation and fell down after seeing the frog. Her elder siblings all wore looks of astonishment, but Milly and Jilly had looks of starry wonder on their faces. 

With another wave, the frog turned back into a bowl, and Zax wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as everyone looked at him. “I can also make those lovey candle sticks act out Bugs Bunny’s ‘Barber of Seville’ if your still not convinced. May I have that coffee now? Four sugars and a just a little bit of cream, heavy cream if you have it. Please and thank you.”

 

After that display of actual magic, all the Starlings gathered around the young Professor, after stopping the twins chanting “Again, again!”. Said Professor was now happily sipping his coffee, as he prepared to tell them about the Wizarding World. “There is a world beside your own that you only know through myths and legends.” He started, “Once we lived out in the open, but then No-Majs, non-magical people, began to fear our magic, so it was decided by the leaders of our world to hide us away from the non-magical world and laws were made to keep our world secret. These rules are called the Statute of Secrecy.”

“So,” Mr. Starling said, trying to wrap his head around what he’s being told, “Your telling me there is a whole community of people out there, that no one knows about, and can do real, honest to god, magic? How does someone keep that a secret?”

“Well there have been some,” Zax quickly cleared his throat, “slip ups over the years. We might have magic, but we are still human. There are government bodies for each nation on the planet, ours is called the Magical Congress of the United States of America or MACUSA for short, that have divisions and departments dedicated to dealing with and covering up breaches to the Statute of Secrecy.”

“If that’s the case,” Said a still very confused Mrs. Starling, “then how exactly is our daughter a witch? None of my side or my husband’s side of the family are part of your world.” Alice was glad her parents were asking these questions, because she was still in shock after finding out that magic was REAL!! How do you cope with that information rationally? It would be like expecting a cave man to understand physics after just telling him it exists!

“Ah, now we come back to the crux of the issue!” he said with a delighted tone. “There are three ways a magical child is born into the world. First one is straight forward, a wizard and a witch have a child, which clearly you all don’t fall under that one. Then there is the second way, which is that a witch or wizard has a child with a No-Maj, but since none of your other children have magic it’s clearly not that one either. Which leaves us with the third possibility: A No-Maj-Born.”

“A No-Maj-Born?” said Alice finding her voice. She decided half way through the professor’s mini lecture that she would hold off her little existential crisis for later when she wasn’t being given important information about the world she apparently belonged to. She was always good at compartmentalizing things like that if she really needed to.

“A child born out of a union between two No-Maj’s.” he informed her. “We don’t know how or why it happens, but every so often, a witch or wizard is born to parents that have no magical power what so ever. It’s like being double jointed, being able to whistle, or able to make the perfect blueberry cupcakes when none of the rest of your family can.”

“But if you don’t know how it happens, how do you know when it happens?” Mrs. Starling asked, her tone now curious, “And if you have that information, why not inform the parents when they are born?” Alice looked to the professor, very interested to find out herself.

“Just like the No-Maj governments has a record of people who were born and live in this country, so too does MACUSA, but instead of sending someone door to door with a census, we have enchanted means to collect that information.” He shrugged his shoulders, “I’m not privy to how it works and as to why we don’t inform the parents, there is always the small chance that they won’t be able to use it and if their magic never manifests and we inform the parents of the magical world, that would be in violation of the Statute of Secrecy, which is why we wait until the Ilvermorny enchantments produce the letter and address of a No-Maj-born.”

“You seem to know a bit about our side of the fence Professor Zax,” commented Mr. Starling, scrutinizing the wizard before him with a quizzical expression, “do all wizards and witches have the same level of knowledge of our world?”

“No actually,” said Zax with sigh of disappointment, “Most full-blooded wizards and witches wouldn’t come near the No-Maj world with a ten-foot poll.” A sad look crossed his eyes and his smile turned into a frown, “Most wizards and witches have long memories, and they remember the persecution we went through during the dark ages and the witch trials. For the longest time, it was actually illegal for a wizard or witch to interact with a No-Maj in America.”

As soon as it appeared the frown was gone the smile was back, “But then the laws that segregated our worlds was repealed in 1965 and there was a new era of cooperation between our people was made.” He stood up straighter in his seat and a note of pride was in his voice as he went on “A few decades later, my mother, a witch and the rebel of the family, met my No-Maj father, fell in love and nine months later, I show up which makes me a half blood and knowledgeable about the No-Maj world.” He then cleared his throat, “Now that I’ve told you a little about our world we can now get back to the school.

“Ilvermorny school for witchcraft and wizardry was founded in 1627 by Isolt Sayre, James Steward, a No-Maj, Chadwick, and Webster Boot.” He said as he pulled out a pamphlet from one of his suit pockets and handed it to the Starlings to peruse while he was talking. They all gasped when they saw that all the pictures were moving, including a small portrait of a very old African American man who waved at them. “We are one of the best magical schools in the world and one of the least elitists schools too. At Ilvermorny, Ms. Starling will learn to use her magic and learn about our world and our history to become functioning member of our society if she so chooses.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to?” Mr. Starling asked, his tone skeptical. Alice looked at her dad curiously, why wouldn’t she want to go to a school that taught her how to use her magic? Ignoring his daughters look, he pressed on. “What if we, her parents, don’t want her to go to this school of yours? You just told us there is a world we know nothing about and you want us to send our child into it? I doubt this is free or completely safe, so why should we send her?”

Zax again looked pained, “As her parents, that is your right to not send if you wanted. The school and even MACUSA won’t force you to do so, but there are certain health risks to not receiving the necessary training to control her magic.” From another of his pockets, this one his vest pocket, he took out a very small book. He set the book down on the table, pulled out his wand, and tapped the book with it, causing it to grow to be the size of a phone book. The book was bound in leather, with mythic and odd creatures engraved in it, and the title read ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them: expanded edition for the true Magizoologist, by Newt Scamander’.

Zax flicked his wand at the book, causing it to open and flip through the pages as if a strong wind had hit it, before stopping at a specific page. On the page was the image of an incorporeal, and amorphous entity with the appearance of a black, fluid-like cloud. Like the pamphlet, the image was moving, but it was just hovering there. 

“This is what we call an Obscurus.” Said Zax after a while. “It’s the manifestation of the repressed energy of a magical child. It is rare, but if a child is not trained and has to repress their magic, they will manifest an Obscurus and become an Obscurial. Once a child becomes an Obscurial, they will become a force of near unstoppable destruction and it is very rare for an Obscurial to survive the transformation long.” As if sensing his words, the Obscurus on the book exploded on the pages of the book, destroying the paragraphs and sending letters flying.

Alice and her family jumped, her little brother and sister burrowing their heads in their mothers’ sides. “Sorry!” the professor said, quickly shutting the book and putting it back in his pocket, “I forgot that chapter did that. Heath drawbacks aside, your daughter was born with an amazing gift and is part of a world with a rich culture that she is entitled to.” Zax looked to Alice’s parents imploringly, “Please don’t deny her the chance to be a part of that world.”

Alice looked at her parents who were looking at one another, doing that weird parent thing where they were have a whole conversation where they just look at each other and don’t talk. Her father turned, clearly being ‘told’ to take the lead, and addressed the professor. “If we were to send her, and we’re not saying yes, what happens next? Do we need drop her off somewhere and pick her up after school? Where do we get supplies? Do we need to pay for her schooling and how much dose it cost?” he stopped a moment as something occurred to him, “Do you even use our currency?”

“Ah, the easy portion of this meeting.” Zax said, sounding relived. “Those are very simple questions and I will answer them in order,” he took a big breath of air then launched into his info dump “What happens next is that we make an appointment at your earliest convenience for to come and take Alice and one or both of you to get her supplies, she will take the schools train, the Ilvermorny Special, to the school in Massachusetts where she will stay till the school year ends, the shops that sell the necessary supplies is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, there is no tuition, and no we don’t use the same currency, but Gringotts the Wizarding Bank will exchange your No-Maj currency for MACUSA Dragots.” He had started to lose air at this point and gulped down as much air as he could while the Starling parents silently discussed the matter.

Her parents looked at one another again before both looked down to her and she could see the question in their eyes. “I really want to go.” She almost whispered, “If I can do magic, I want to learn to use it.” She decided it was time to unleash the secret weapon Anna had taught her: the puppy dog eyes. “Please can I go?” she asked with big shiny eyes and she was very proud of herself for making her bottom lip tremble a little.

Her dad looked pained at her use of that vile look, while her mother looked amused. They looked at each other again. Her father sighed, “I have an important meeting tomorrow, but my wife should be able to go with Alice to get her supplies with you, tomorrow if that’s possible. So yes, she can go.” Alice let out a whoop of joy (she would not be one of those girls that squalled) and launched herself at her father, hugging him as tightly as she could and thanking him over and over again.

She was going to be a witch!  
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AN: Yes, you are indeed, my chick-a-dee! The adventure begins! I’m so happy that this is going to be out there in internet-land! Please let me know what you think with a review, but please, if you’re not going to say anything nice, do me the kindness and shut the hell up. Till next time, I bid you adieu!


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